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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Kean: Let's Get Moving On Legislation

New Jersey Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean Jr. (Union, Somerset, Morris) renewed his call for Senate President Stephen Sweeney to post Republican legislation addressing issues faced by people all across New Jersey.

“Now that Senator Sweeney is finally ending his 50-day partisan ban of Republican solutions, hopefully he allows this Senate to come together and start advancing the people’s reforms,” Kean said. “I once again call on Senator Sweeney to post for a vote Republican legislation to protect families, make this state more affordable and hold government accountable at all levels. It is unacceptable for this Senate to fail in executing those essential public duties.”

Senator Kean recalled what was happening before Senator Sweeney’s unprecedented ban: “In September, the Senate Republican caucus started publicly petitioning Senator Sweeney to post common-sense, and in some cases bipartisan, Republican initiatives,” Kean noted. “And in November, the Senate President and other Democratic leaders vowed to join us in enacting Superstorm Sandy reforms. But both of these things haven’t really happened yet.”

Senator Kean offered some examples of the people’s solutions, which he said should not be blocked simply because they are Republican initiatives, as New Jersey is a state with millions of residents represented by both political parties.

Senator Kean said, “This Senate must leave nothing on the table when it comes to protecting children and families. For example, let’s pass:”

S1950/”Joan’s Law” (Addiego, Bucco) requires life imprisonment without parole for people convicted of murdering minors in the course of a sex crime.

S2771 (Kyrillos, Oroho) strengthens rights of certain sexual assault victims to sole custody; allows victim to place child for adoption without notice to person who committed sexual assault resulting in birth of the child.

S884 (Bateman), now S2850 (Norcross, Bateman) requires that sexual abuse against a child be reported to law enforcement officials.

Senator Kean continued, “The people want this Senate to attack property taxes at their root. We can by:”

·Ending sick-leave retirement jackpots via S808 or Sweeney’s own bill S1564, which he won’t post for a vote even though it has Republican support;

Passing civil service reforms, and cut other duplicative spending at the local level: (S1694, Doherty, with Sweeney signing on later, permits counties to share tax administrators).

Implementing real pay-to-play and ethics reforms to save taxpayers from funding excessively rich contracts and the actions of abusive public officials:

S2068 (makes all local public officials accountable to state ethics laws); S1917 (levels the pay-to-play playing field); S590 (co-sponsored by Weinberg) full forfeiture of pension of elected or appointed official convicted of any crime touching office); S1333 (Requires forfeiture of public office, position or employment upon conviction of certain offenses); S597(no wheeling);

S601 (suspends public pensions of retired public employees who resume public employment with compensation greater than $15,000, in order to mitigate pension system burden and help ensure equal opportunity for new positions); and S1891 (With bipartisan support in the Assembly, mandates that insurance producers perform bona fide services in order to be paid public dollars; requires insurance producers disclose public contracts with the state and detail services provided).

Senator Kean concluded, “Let’s do something to learn from and better prepare for the next Superstorm Sandy. There’s more we need to do now to help people recover. For instance:”

Senator Beck created S2505 to assure that insurance companies responsible for holding thousands of residents and small business owners hostage without providing timely and fair insurance settlement claims, can be held accountable by state authorities. Beck’s bill provides the state Department of Banking & Insurance with the authority to hold state-licensed flood insurers to state laws that ensure prompt, fair and equitable settlement of claims. It also establishes a process for DOBI to enforce provisions of what is referred to as the “Unfair Practice Act” that outlaw unfair or unreasonably delayed settlements. Beck’s now bipartisan bill has been referred to the Senate Commerce Committee. The Assembly version has been passed by the lower house’s Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee.

Senators Singer and Kyrillos sponsor S2494 to facilitate Sandy recovery by allowing shore municipalities to use beach access fees to rebuild and maintain properties near beaches that were decimated by the Superstorm. As per his ban, Senator Sweeney removed this bill from a May 20 Senate committee agenda.

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Dan Cirucci, the founder and editor-in chief of the Dan Cirucci Blog, is one of the most widely honored public relations professionals in his field and a public relations consultant to numerous organizations and individuals.

For many years he served as a Lecturer in Corporate Communication at Penn State University. A former President of the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) he has lectured at Rowan University, Temple University, The College of New Jersey and Arcadia University. He has conducted workshops on public relations for thousands of participants throughout the nation and has taught countless others the art of public speaking. He has also advised numerous lawyers, judges, public officials and political candidates. Cirucci is a prolific writer and his op-ed pieces have appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Courier-Post and other publications.

A native of Camden NJ, Cirucci is a former President of the Philadelphia chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. Cirucci served as Associate Executive Director of the Philadelphia Bar Association for nearly 30 years. He currently serves as Chair of Penn State University's Professional Advisory Board for the Corporate Communication major at Penn State Abington.

He received his MA degree from Rowan University and his BA from Villanova University. He has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rowan's public relations program and was inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Hall of Fame in 2003. He received the E. A. "Wally" Richter Leadership Award from the National Association of Bar Executives' Communications Section. The Award is the Section's highest honor. He has also been honored by numerous other local, state and national groups.

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